China removes Bo Xilai from elite Central Committee: Sources

China's Communist Party has decided to expel former leadership contender Bo Xilai from the elite Central Committee, sources said on Tuesday, citing a decision likely to disclose details of a scandal that has shaken a looming leadership succession.

The four sources, who all requested anonymity, said the ruling party had made the decision after investigating Bo, the former party chief of Chongqing municipality in southwest China, over a scandal that emerged after his vice-mayor, Wang Lijun, fled into a US consulate for 24 hours in February.

Wang's flight triggered a series of revelations, including questions about the death of a British businessman close to Bo's family, and Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party chief in mid-March.

The party settles on a new top leadership late this year, and Bo had been widely seen as campaigning for a post in it.

Bo has been removed from the Central Committee, a council of some 200 senior officials who meet about once a year, and from the Politburo, a more powerful body of about two dozen Central Committee members, said the sources.

The decision effectively ends Bo's political career.